A general approach to wavelets is presented within a framework of a separable functional Hilbert space H. Basic tool is the construction of H-product kernels by use of Fourier analysis with respect to an orthonormal basis in H. Scaling function and wavelet are defined in terms of H-product kernels. Wavelets are shown to be 'building blocks' that decorrelate the data. A pyramid scheme provides fast computation. Finally, the determination of the earth's gravitational potential from single and multipole expressions is organized as an example of wavelet approximation in Hilbert space structure.

This work is concerned with a nonlinear Galerkin method for solving the incompressible Navier-Stokes equation on the sphere. It extends the work of Debussche, Marion,Shen, Temam et al. from one-dimensional or toroidal domains to the spherical geometry. In the first part, the method based on type 3 vector spherical harmonics is introduced and convergence is indicated. Further it is shown that the occurring coupling terms involving three vector spherical harmonics can be expressed algebraically in terms of Wigner-3j coefficients. To improve the numerical efficiency and economy we introduce an FFT based pseudo spectral algorithm for computing the Fourier coefficients of the nonlinear advection term. The resulting method scales with O(N^3), if N denotes the maximal spherical harmonic degree. The latter is demonstrated in an extensive numerical example.

Spline functions that approximate data given on the sphere are developed in a weighted Sobolev space setting. The flexibility of the weights makes possible the choice of the approximating function in a way which emphasizes attributes desirable for the particular application area. Examples show that certain choices of the weight sequences yield known methods. A convergence theorem containing explicit constants yields a usable error bound. Our survey ends with the discussion of spherical splines in geodetically relevant pseudodifferential equations.

The Earth's surface is an almost perfect sphere. Deviations from its spherical shape are less than 0,4% of its radius and essentially arise from its rotation. All equipotential surfaces are nearly spherical, too. In consequence, multiscale modelling of geoscientifically relevant data on the sphere involving rotational symmetry of the trial functions used for the approximation plays an important role. In this paper we deal with isotropic kernel functions showing local support and (one-dimensional) polynomial structure (briefly called isotropic finite elements) for reconstructing square--integrable functions on the sphere. Essential tool is the concept of multiresolution analysis by virtue of the spherical up function. The main result is a tree algorithm in terms of (low--order) isotropic finite elements.

By means of the limit and jump relations of classical potential theory with respect to the vectorial Helmholtz equation a wavelet approach is established on a regular surface. The multiscale procedure is constructed in such a way that the emerging scalar, vectorial and tensorial potential kernels act as scaling functions. Corresponding wavelets are defined via a canonical refinement equation. A tree algorithm for fast decomposition of a complex-valued vector field given on a regular surface is developed based on numerical integration rules. By virtue of this tree algorithm, an effcient numerical method for the solution of vectorial Fredholm integral equations on regular surfaces is discussed in more detail. The resulting multiscale formulation is used to solve boundary-value problems for the time harmonic Maxwell's equations corresponding to regular surfaces.

Some new approximation methods are described for harmonic functions corresponding to boundary values on the (unit) sphere. Starting from the usual Fourier (orthogonal) series approach, we propose here nonorthogonal expansions, i.e. series expansions in terms of overcomplete systems consisting of localizing functions. In detail, we are concerned with the so-called Gabor, Toeplitz, and wavelet expansions. Essential tools are modulations, rotations, and dilations of a mother wavelet. The Abel-Poisson kernel turns out to be the appropriate mother wavelet in approximation of harmonic functions from potential values on a spherical boundary.

The paper discusses the approximation of scattered data on the sphere which is one of the major tasks in geomathematics. Starting from the discretization of singular integrals on the sphere the authors devise a simple approximation method that employs locally supported spherical polynomials and does not require equidistributed grids. It is the basis for a hierarchical approximation algorithm using differently scaled basis functions, adaptivity and error control. The method is applied to two examples one of which is a digital terrain model of Australia.

For the determination of the earth" s gravity field many types of observations are available nowadays, e.g., terrestrial gravimetry, airborne gravimetry, satellite-to-satellite tracking, satellite gradiometry etc. The mathematical connection between these observables on the one hand and gravity field and shape of the earth on the other hand, is called the integrated concept of physical geodesy. In this paper harmonic wavelets are introduced by which the gravitational part of the gravity field can be approximated progressively better and better, reflecting an increasing flow of observations. An integrated concept of physical geodesy in terms of harmonic wavelets is presented. Essential tools for approximation are integration formulas relating an integral over an internal sphere to suitable linear combinations of observation functionals, i.e., linear functionals representing the geodetic observables. A scale discrete version of multiresolution is described for approximating the gravitational potential outside and on the earth" s surface. Furthermore, an exact fully discrete wavelet approximation is developed for the case of band-limited wavelets. A method for combined global outer harmonic and local harmonic wavelet modelling is proposed corresponding to realistic earth" s models. As examples, the role of wavelets is discussed for the classical Stokes problem, the oblique derivative problem, satellite-to-satellite tracking, satellite gravity gradiometry, and combined satellite-to-satellite tracking and gradiometry.

The satellite-to-satellite tracking (SST) problems are characterized from mathematical point of view. Uniqueness results are formulated. Moreover, the basic relations are developed between (scalar) approximation of the earth's gravitational potential by "scalar basis systems" and (vectorial) approximation of the gravitational eld by "vectorial basis systems". Finally, the mathematical justication is given for approximating the external geopotential field by finite linear combinations of certain gradient fields (for example, gradient fields of multi-poles) consistent to a given set of SST data.

This paper presents a method for approximating spherical functions from discrete data of a block-wise grid structure. The essential ingredients of the approach are scaling and wavelet functions within a biorthogonalisation process generated by locally supported zonal kernel functions. In consequence, geophysically and geodetically relevant problems involving rotation-invariant pseudodifferential operators become attackable. A multiresolution analysis is formulated enabling a fast wavelet transform similar to the algorithms known from one-dimensional Euclidean theory.